The Irish standard., 1887-03-19
that question, as it would require more
time than should feel justified in &C.
ounu;nn thie avorinr hoei1ne MANY

my voice know from experience what
have been obliged to learn from history
Only a few days ago read in the
Irish World that magnificent GRAFTON
delivered by the Hon. John T. Finerty
of Chicago, at New York on Emmett
day and the opening part Of his speech
struck me so forcibly as being correc,
that with your permission adopt it as
being expressive of my own feelings
He said: Something first played by the
band of your immortal Sixth-ninth re-
minds us beautifully of the checkered
history of the old land-half sunshine,
half tears, half sorrow and half glory
SLOW true it is and pity it is tits true.''
i But my friends [ will not dwell upon
the barbarous scenes of the cruel past
I should much prefer that you should
read impartial history and judge for
yourselves whether or not there is a
just cause for the great agitation that
is now, and has been, going on i'll over
the world wherever a group of Erin's
Home Rule and the rights of Irishmerl
in general.
We are living in an age Of progress.
and we are moving alongat a rapid rate.
During the last few months nearly every
senator and representative Of these
United States have written letters expires
sive Of sympathy for Ireland's freedom.
Some OF them have been couched III
very very strong language, and were
all published and sent all over the
world by Patrick Ford and, in my opin-
ion, they have done a Vast amount of
good.
| Well, but some one may say that is
none of our business, in this, country, to
| interfere with those accros the water.
l answer that all our sympathies are
our own. and we can place them where
ever we please.
! We have always expressed our sym
pathy with every class Of people strug
Cling for freedom, and America, least
Of all, could not afford to remain neutral !,
at least so far us sentiment goes, when
Ireland's justdemandsa are ma lie known
| The spirits of Ireiand's illustrious dead
SONS, whose bones are mingled with
the dust on various battle fields from
| Bunker Hill to Yorktown, from Mag
ara to New Orleans, from Palo Alto to
Chapultepec, from Fort Sumpter to
Appomattox would hover about the
| nations citadel, and forever haunt us
like the ghost of Hamlet's father, seek
ing, at the hands of the living, revenge
for the cruel wrongs OF the past.
Iwould impress upon you and have
you bear in mind, first, last and all the
| ime, that you are American citizens, it
not by birth, by adoption, and that you
| should not do any act or deed to cause
forfeiture of those rights guaranteed
by our constitution. America is
your happy home and she has now the
first claim upon your allegiance, but it
is n God given right that no country will
or can deprive you Of. to express with
manly frmness, your sympathy for
people struggling for freedom, people
who have the same right to independ-
ence as the English, the French, the
Germans, the Spaniards or Americans;
bearing in mind also that a distinction
should be made between the English as
individuals and the English as anation.
Many, very many, English men and
Englishwomen do not approve of
the course of the British Government
in it's treatment of the Irish people.
many of them, too, have made settle
ments in Ireland and, as the historian
says, became ''more Irish than the Irish
themselves. We find also that many
of the Englishmen and English
women have fled from their own coun-
Try and, in company with Irishmen and
{rishwomen, have sought out the peace
full shores Of America and together upon
an equal footing, and with equal privi-
]eges, which, by the way is all they
should expect, they are today making
homes for themselves and families in
1.-THE land of the'free and the home of
the brave.''
No intelligent American will take
oHense, but on the contrary will regard
you with greater esteem when he OBJ
serves the undying love and unquench-
able desire on the part of Irishmen to
have their fatherland once again take
it's place among the nations of the earth,
because he knows full we'll that the
true patriotic Irishman makes a true
and patriotic American citizen. Were
instances regarded as proof of the asser-
ton, names might be given without
limit, but it is safe to say that Rev. DIR.
Cahill, that patriotic Irishmen, ex-
pressed the heartfelt sentiments of his
countrymen when he said ''Oh Amer
lea! how I love your green fields. be.
cause they are now the resting place of
the wandering children of our country.
I worship your lofty mountains and
your rich valleys, because they furnish
an asylum and a barrier against the